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The 25th Annual Conference on Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP) in Toronto brought together people from all over the world to discuss using public-private partnerships (P3) to commission, build, and manage critical infrastructure projects. The full slate of speakers included high profile Canadian politicians, international technical specialists and government representatives, and professionals from law, financing, engineering, architecture, consulting and project management.

Even with such a diverse line-up, two common themes emerged as key messages - both of which reminded participants that even though P3 projects are complex, process-oriented and heavily structured, the goal of using them is to build and accomplish projects that have not been possible before, and that will contribute to improving our future quality of life.

1) New technologies will disrupt our current planning and needs, in ways that we can't even imagine yet.

Thinking ahead and building in flexibility to contracts is necessary - but a challenge, given that one of the benefits of using a traditional P3 approach is to provide certainty around timing and scope. For example, new technologies for payment and signalling are already changing how different transit modes interface with each other and affect the customer experience.

Speaking on a transit panel, Richard Fechner, Global Leader of Infrastructure Investment & Economics with GHD Advisory, suggested that one way of achieving even better outcomes could be to split the delivery of P3 transit projects into hard build infrastructure (such as below rail), technology systems (signalling, ticketing and safety) and operational aspects (such as customer service, maintenance).

Dan Doctoroff from Google's Sidewalk Labs presented case studies on how the City of New York had found and created new value out of its existing assets through creative partnerships with the private technology sector and educational institutions, including by repurposing phone booths into wifi stations, and creating sellers and a market for air permits.

Salim Ismail, from Singularity University and ExO Works took it even further with his approach of exponential thinking, suggesting that digital disruption would transform what infrastructure we even need, and how it is used - for example, how the self-driving cars would eliminate future car ownership and congestion, and thus by extension the seemingly unlimited need to keep building new roads.

2) The need to focus on delivering social outcomes.

The Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Indigenous Services for the Government of Canada, challenged delegates to figure out how they could help deliver critical infrastructure and services to Canada's Indigenous communities. She pointed out that many of these communities lack basic amenities, such as safe housing, clean water, and access to health and educational institutions, and suggested ways that companies could start addressing some of these critical infrastructure gaps.

Two other Canadian politicians also appealed to delegates to think about how the P3 approach could be adapted to take on new challenges.

John Tory, Mayor of the City of Toronto, spoke to the need for creative solutions to develop more affordable housing and to implement flood protection measures, and urged participants to come up with creative ways to transform these smaller projects into attractive investments. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also sought input into solving the infrastructure needs of smaller municipalities, and emphasized the role of infrastructure such as broadband connections in levelling the education and employment playing field for people and building a fair society.

These themes of adapting to new technology and of maintaining a focus on the social outcomes of a project were echoed by speakers at many of the other sessions. By keeping these in mind, the P3 approach, which initially evolved as a way to solve problems around funding, capacity and risk for large infrastructure projects, will hopefully evolve yet again into new delivery models to address the critical infrastructure gaps that still remain.